


To See Clearly Despite Some Cracks

by hogwartsjaguar



Category: Les Misérables (2012), Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Combeferre & Enjolras Platonic Life Partners, Courfeyrac being Courfeyrac, Enjolras Has Feelings, Enjolras Is Bad At Feelings, Glasses, Idiots in Love, M/M, Minor Enjolras/Grantaire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-13
Updated: 2014-09-13
Packaged: 2018-02-17 07:09:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2300888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hogwartsjaguar/pseuds/hogwartsjaguar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Enjolras considered them to be his biggest shame. Despite being millions of people in the world needing to have them, Enjolras would never think of them in a positive light. Only three people in the Amis knew about him needing to wear glasses. Courfeyrac, Combeferre and Joly, were the only people in Enjolras’s social circles to know about his glasses, and they were sworn to complete and utter secrecy about them, as who knows what Grantaire would do if he  found out about them. Enjolras would have let the other Amis know about his glasses, but Grantaire would find out somehow, and then he would make fun of him for having a crack in the marble statue he was. And Enjolras wasn't willing to risk that possibility happening.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To See Clearly Despite Some Cracks

Enjolras considered them to be his biggest shame. Despite being millions of people in the world needing to have them, Enjolras would never think of them in a positive light. Only three people in the Amis knew about him needing to wear glasses. Courfeyrac, Combeferre and Joly, were the only people in Enjolras’s social circles to know about his glasses, and they were sworn to complete and utter secrecy about them, as who knows what Grantaire would do if he found out about them. Enjolras would have let the other Amis know about his glasses, but Grantaire would find out somehow, and then he would make fun of him for having a crack in the marble statue he was. And Enjolras wasn't willing to risk that possibility happening.

Enjolras was not a particularly vain person. Despite being told that he looked as if he was carved out of marble by Garantire on a near daily basis, Enjolras did very little to make himself look presentable to the world. Enjolras was one of those lucky few people in the world who had won the genetics lottery and would wake up looking as if he had spent hours getting ready for a modelling photo-shoot. Combeferre had given himself the task of being Enjolras's personal reminder for issues such as when to shower and changing clothes, mostly as Enjolras had the tendency to forget to look after himself right before a protest and his mind would be buzzing with all the coffee and the political campaign that he would be working on. However on this occasion, Enjolras was fussing over his appearance like a teenage girl who was despite to get asked out to prom by the captain of the rugby team.

Like most situations it was Courfeyrac fault. If something happened to the Amis, nine times out of ten Courfeyrac would be the one who put everyone in the uncomfortable situation. Just as Jehan could write poetry, and how Feuilly could make the best fans, Courfeyrac's talent was getting people into strange situations that they could never explain.

Often Enjolras would be Courfeyrac's victim, and often as a result of this, Enjolras would be needing to get picked up from a random petrol station five miles away from his home, by Combeferre at three in the morning. Last situation that Courfeyrac dragged Enjolras into, resulted in Combeferre needing to pick up Enjolras and Courfeyrac from the hospital rooftop at four in the morning. 

This was not the strange part of the story, the strange part was that Enjolras was only wearing his red boxer shorts and holding Bahorel’s rabbit and Courfeyrac was wearing a spiderman costume. When Combeferre asked his two friends the next day about why they were on a hospital roof, none of them could remember.

Courfeyrac had recently taken up to pranking Enjolras in the mornings, right before the leader had his second cup of coffee. Courfeyrac had found it rather amusing to annoy Enjolras before he was fully awake, as Enjolras rarely shouted at him for it, mostly as he was still half asleep and he couldn't remember what Courfeyrac had done to him, once the caffeine had kicked in. 

This time Courfeyrac thought that it would be funny to scare Enjolras when he was in the bathroom. He had put on a scream mask and held a plastic knife in his hand, and hid behind the shower curtain, and waited for Enjolras to come in. Courfeyrac decided to wait until Enjolras was putting in his contacts before scaring him. Courfeyrac’s plan didn’t end up going well, as when he jumped out behind the shower curtain, Enjolras was in the process of putting in a lense.

A series of things happened in a few seconds, that neither of them could remember what order they happened in. Enjolras poking himself in the eye, his contacts going down the drain, and Courfeyrac ending up on the floor after getting punched in the face by Enjolras. Combeferre had heard Enjolras scream and went to the bathroom, to see if anyone was getting murdered. Instead of the sight of his friend’s lifeless bodies, Combeferre saw Enjolras, who was only wearing his underwear, screaming at Courfeyrac about contact lenses, while Courfeyrac was on the floor holding his nose . Combeferre went back out of the bathroom after five seconds and went back to his coffee and newspaper, it was probably better if he didn’t know.

Combeferre did his best to try and read his newspaper, but it was proven to become a difficult task to do, as it was nearly impossible to concentrate on something, when Enjolras was shouting and Courfeyrac was throwing bottles of shampoo at the wall. Combeferre briefly considered trying to intrevervine, but the last time he tried to stop an argument among his two roommates, he got punched in the face by a drunken Courfeyrac who was giving the Amis a drunken reading of Enjolras’s diary. Enjolras in this situation was on the floor trying to pry the book out of Courfeyrac’s hands. There isn't much you could say about that situation, as Combeferre ended up getting a lovely black eye in the process of stopping the fight. It was definitely safer if he didn't get involved, as Combeferre couldn't risk getting another black eye, as he was meant to be visiting his grandmother during the week, and she wouldn’t be too happy about her grandson- the doctor, looking as if he had been in a fight or two.

“I’m going to make you wish that you had never been born!” Enjolras shrieked through the bathroom door. Combeferre took a sip of his coffee and sighed, Enjolras must have have been in a rather pleasant mood that morning, as Courfeyrac was still breathing, actually Courfeyrac sounded as if he was close to tears. 

“Serves you right, for doing those stupid jokes.” Combeferre muttered under his breath with a smile playing on his lips. He did feel sorry for his friend, but he had it coming. Combeferre usually thought that out of all of his best friends, that there was no definite ‘smart one.’ But at that moment in time, he definitely knew it wasn't Courfeyrac. Maybe Enjolras would decide to be nice to Courfeyrac, and only remove his skull to give to Grantaire to use as a beer glass.

The bathroom door burst open forcefully after Enjolras had kicked it. Courfeyrac was soon on Enjolras’s heels, with his head still on his shoulders. Enjolras looked as if he was wanting to either shout at Courfeyrac more or destroy something. Combeferre almost expected to see smoke to pour out of Enjolras’s ears.

“This is all your fault!” Enjolras roared as he threw himself onto the sofa. “I look hideous because of you and people are not going to take me seriously.”  
Combeferre put down his mug and walked to the sofa, making sure to move the TV remote out of Enjolras’s grabbing range, as to be frank they couldn’t afford to by a new television after Enjolras threw the remote out of rage at the Tv after France was put out of the World Cup. 

“What is the matter, Enjolras?” Combeferre asked as he sat next to Enjolras on the sofa. He knew what was wrong, as he could see the rectangular black frames on Enjolras’s face, but he thought that Enjolras would want to complain about what Courfeyrac had done to annoy him, and he would get it out of his system and things would go back to normal.

“Why on earth are we friends with Courfeyrac?” Enjolras hissed, even though his voice was slightly muffled from the cushion that he had buried his face in, even though he looked rather uncomfortable with his glasses digging into his face.

“Because I have a great personality and I am a generally wonderful person,” Courfeyrac chimed in from the kitchen and he was holding a pot lid as a shield, as if he was protecting himself from Enjolras, in case he decided to attack. “and because I am since a wonderful person, I think that this should be counted as a thing that we will laugh about it five years. But I think that we should laugh about it now.” Courfeyrac started to laugh, but it started to sound hysterical, before he started to mumble about his testicals being turned into earings for Cossette. 

“Is that what you are wanting to be on your gravestone?” Enjolras asked. “Because I am willing to personally carve it on your gravestone for you.”

“Your glasses aren't that bad.” Combeferre said as he placed a comforting hand on Enjolras’s shoulder. 

“They are the most hideous things in the world,” Enjolras mumbled. “I look like a nerd!”

Combeferre coughed as he adjusted his glasses on his nose. He decided to ignore Enjolras’s comment, mostly it was safer to do, as he wasn't really in the mood to argue with Enjolras when he was in a mood. “I don’t think that you look like a nerd, in fact I think that you look rather distinguished with them on.”

“You have to say that, you're my best friend!” Enjolras moaned as if he had been severely punished. “You are just lying to me, because you care.”

“Will it make you feel better if Iie to you?” Courfeyrac asked. Enjolras didn’t answer verbally, but he did give Courfeyrac the most deadly glare that he could ever produce. Courfeyrac wondered if it was a good idea to write up his will, as he thought that Enjolras would murder him before it was even noon. 

“Enjolras, no one is going to care about you wearing your glasses for a change.” Combeferre said with a slight edge to his voice, in the hopes that he would get through Enjolras’s thick skull. “I wear my glasses, and no one cares about them. Courfeyrac don’t say anything!” Coufeyrac had opened up his mout to make a quip, but he soon closed his mouth, when the 'Combglare' was shot in his direction.

“Grantaire is going to care about them,” Enjolras muttered, “you know what Grantaire is like. He doesn’t take me seriously and he always takes down my points. He hates me, and the glasses is one more thing that he is going to make fun of me for. 

Combeferre sighed and resisted the urge to ask Enjolras that he was obvious about Grantaire. It was clear that Grantaire was the only reason why Enjolras was making a fuss over his glasses. Anyone could see that Enjolras did care more for the cynic than he let on. And Grantaire on the other hand, had it written all over him, that he did care for the other man. It didn’t help that Grantaire often sported the lovesick puppy look that Marius often wore, when he first met Cossette and he didn’t even know her name. 

Despite claiming that he hated the cynic on a near daily basis, Enjolras did care more about Grantaire than he pretended to. Enjolras had the emotional range of a teaspoon, and he was at the stage where he thought that if he pretended that if disliked someone, it would others from believing that he cared for someone in a more than friendly way.

All was revealed during the night of Bossuet’s birthday party, where Courfeyrac had the brilliant idea of going to a strip club to celebrate his friend’s decreasing lifespan. While the rest of the Amis were having fun, as they attempted to dance and as they cheered Jehan on, when he went onto a pole and attempted to pole dance. Instead of having fun, he spent the night getting cried on by an Enjolras, who had one too many shots and after the blonde had seen Grantaire getting cosy with a stripped named ‘White Chocolate.’ It was a rather uncomfortable experience for the two men, and they vowed to never speak of it again.

Combeferre was tempted at times to lock Enjolras and Grantaire in a cupboard together, to make them at least talk about what they meant to each other, as it was rather frustrating to see two of his friends dance around each other constantly and not say anything to another that wasn’t about the cause.

Combeferre was brought out of his thoughts when Enjolras shifted off the sofa and moved to the floor with his laptop as he started to type rapidly and forcing the keys to click at an uncomfortable level. Combeferre craned his head around to look at the laptop screen, to discover that Enjolras was taking notes for the meeting. This was not a strange occurrence for Enjolras, but he only did it when he wasn't going to be at a meeting, and that was rarely. The only time when Enjolras wasn't at a meeting, was when he had been forced into bed by Combeferre and Joly when he was about to collapse from what illness he had at the time, or when he was visiting his parents.

“Why aren’t you going to be at the meeting tonight, Enjolras?” Combeferre asked with a look of concern painted onto his features. “I don't recall you having any phone calls with your parents recently.”

“My parents haven't called me either,” Enjolras said as he briefly dragged his eyes from the screen. “I am not intending to go to any meetings until I get my contact lenses. I’m sure that you will do fine without me.”

“Why aren’t you wanting to go?” Courfeyrac asked as he went into the living room with a tray of tea and biscuits balanced in a way that they looked as if they were going to fall out of his arms and onto the floor at any given moment. “You have been planning this meeting for a long time, and you kept saying that it would be ‘better than when the people of Paris stormed the Bastille.”

Enjolras didn’t say anything but he pointed to his glasses with a sigh. Combeferre resisted the urge to bash his head against the wall in frustration. “You can do the meeting without me. I can still give out my speech, but I will do it over the phone on loudspeaker, so that everyone can hear me.”

“Do you not think that this is ridiculous, Enjolras?” Combeferre asked as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “No one is going to care about you wearing glasses. These people are your friends, and they will like you no matter what.”

“Grantaire will laugh at me.” Enjolras murmured. 

“Grantaire will be trying to ignore the situation in his pants, and he will be too busy care about your glasses.” Courfeyrac said through a mouthful of biscuit. “The man loves you, he is not going to care about you needing an aid to see better.”

“What Courfeyrac is trying to say, is that Grantaire is not going to care about you if you wear glasses or not. He likes you for you.” Combeferre said with a sigh of frustration at how blunt Courfeyrac was being.

The apartment went silent, all activity stopped.Enjolras didn’t say anything, but he stared at Courfeyrac who was covered in biscuit crumbs. It had been over two minutes since Courfeyrac had spoken, and Enjolras hadn't said anything, mostly as his mind had crashed like a virus filled windows product, and Enjolras’s mind had to still reboot. The only thought that was going through Enjolras’s head was. That Grantaire apparently loved him. Enjolras didn’t believe that, he didn't see himself to be desirable to anyone else. He didn’t even believe that he had much of a personality. Courfeyrac was looking rather smug with himself and Enjolras would have yelled at him, but his mind was running Windows Vista.  
Enjolras’s mind only rebooted slightly when Courfeyrac and Combeferre had left the flat, after many attempts to bribe Enjolas to come to the meeting with the offers of apple strudels from the Musian. But after Enjolras had refused the straddle for the first time, it was clear that Enjolras wasn’t going to move from the apartment until he got his new lenses.  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Enjolras brieflied wondered if he should have gone to the meeting, as he was bored out of his mind. He kept going back to what Courfeyrac said. Courfeyrac had to be joking about Grantaire loving him, he must have been. He had to admit that he was being a bit of a baby about his glasses, but he genuinely didn't want Grantaire to see him looking like a state with them on. So many a time, Grantaire had called him ‘Apollo’ and told him that he was ‘made out of fine marble.’ Enjolras liked being told that he was perfected, but when one of his flaws were exposed, he felt that people wouldn't like him as much, as he wasn't perfect. 

Enjolras thought that the only way to cheer himself up was to watch Legally Blonde, as it is the only movie that can always make him happy no matter what happened that day. As he was halfway into the film and his tub of Ben and Jerry’s , the door was knocked loudly, before someone barged through into the living room.

“What do you want?” Enjolras asked, thinking that it was Courfeyrac wanting to annoy him.” Enjolras looked up and saw the messy haired, and permanently paint covered, Grantaire standing at the door.

“Nice to see you too, Apollo.” Grantaire said as he sauntered into the living room uninvited and flopped down on the sofa. “Nice glasses.”

Enjolras squeaked slightly and quickly threw off his glasses and shoved them under a pile of magazines, as he switched off the TV. He started to hope for the first time that Grantaire was drunk, so he could forget about his glasses. He wanted to be respected and having the glasses on his face showed a sign of weakness, and if Grantaire saw that he had a weakness he would laugh at him. “What are you doing here? Don’t you have to be at a meeting?” 

“Shouldn't I be asking you the same thing?” Grantaire asked with a raised eyebrow. “Is there a reason that you are not at the meeting? As Combeferre said that you were ill, but you look rather healthy to me, not unless you have one of these downstairs diseases.I never thought that you would be one to get one of those, Apollo. Thought that you would be a nun.”

Enjolras turned pink and pinched the bridge of his nose –a habit that he developed from spending too much time with Grantaire. He tried to count to ten, but he had only made it to seven when he realised that he wasn't going to calm down. “ First of all, Grantire, I do not have anything wrong with me. Secondly, I am a male, if I was dedicated to religion, I would be a monk, as nuns are females. And lastly, why are you in my home? I don’t recall inviting you.”

“I thought that I would drop in to see you, is that a problem for you?” Grantaire smirked. “I think that we are good enough friends, to spend enough time together.”

“When did we become friends?” Enjolras asked. He was feeling rather confused about Grantaire thinking that they were friends, as he was sure that Grantaire hated him. Grantaire was rude to him during the meetings and he would call him stupid names such as ‘Apollo’ and ‘Legally Blonde,’ that was absolutely detested by Enjolras with a passion. Enjolras was surprised that Grantaire considered him a friend, he had to admit that he wasn't that kind to the cynic and he did use his capacity of cruelty on Grantaire. He thought about trying to apologise for his behaviour to Grantaire, but he couldn't bring himself around to do it, mostly as he was too proud to admit that he could do something wrong. He did apologise in his own way though, during those days when he felt that he had been too harsh on Grantaire at the meetings, the next day he would let Grantaire speak freely and he would let himself get called those stupid nicknames that the cynic was fond of. 

“Haven't we been friends for years?” Grantaire asked with a shrug. “You’ve seen me at my worst, I know things about you. That is basically friendship. I didn’t know about the glasses though, why aren't you wearing them?”

“I prefer to wear contacts, ” Enjolras muttered as he fiddled with the sleeve of his shirt. He didn’t understand why he was feeling nervous, he had been in protests that had turned violent and he didn’t even feel a chill of fear, but he could feel himself shaking while he was talking to Grantaire, he had noticed that this was probably the longest conversation that he had ever had with Grantaire that didn’t consist of insulting one another. “ I get new lenses next week, and you don’t need to see them again.”

“Why would I care about you wearing glasses, Apollo?” Grantaire asked with a smirk. “There are more important things in the world, than your bad eyesight. I thought that you would know that, you are the one who goes about trying to change the world.”

“Won't you want to make fun of me because of them?” Enjolras asked. “Because if you want to do so, you can have fine insults and that is your lot. I am not letting myself get insulted anymore than that.”

Grantaire shrugged before reaching over and switching the film back on. Enjolras groaned out loud, when he realised that Grantaire would realise that he was watching Legally Blonde…again. Grantaire hated that movie with a passion, and he made an effort to annoy Enjolras about his love for it. “Aren't you going to watch the film, Enjolras?” Grantaire asked. “It is your favourite, and I think that you might enjoy it more, if you can see properly. I don’t even know why you are making a fuss about glasses. I rather like them, why don’t you?”

“Apollo can’t have flaws. Gods are meant to be perfect and have no weaknesses.” Enjolras muttered, “You wouldn't care for me anymore now, as you know that your ‘marble statue’ has cracks in it.”

“Enjolras, you know that I don’t belive in many things in this world. But the one thing that I am sure of is that there is nothing that is perfect in this world, but you are practically the definition of perfection if it ever did exist. I don't care if you wear glasses or not, as to me you are perfect any way, and also, I think that the glasses make you look rather appealing.” Grantaire said as he put the glasses on Enjolras’s face for him. “Even with the glasses on, you still look as if you have been carved out of marble to me.” 

Enjolras didn't know what happened. But in the space of a few seconds, he had just been talking to Grantaire, and that ended up with him kissing Grantaire. He didn’t know exactly why it happened, but he certainly didn't regret it, the moment when Grantaire started to kiss him back. Enjolras realised that Courfeyrac would be so proud of him, the moment after he would tell him and Combeferre the story of what happened. 

The movie gets ignored for the rest of the night.

After that moment with Grantaire, Enjolras has been more confident about wearing his glasses in public. Before his glasses to him, were considered to be his ‘Kryptonite,’ but now things were completely different. Sure Enjolras would still wear his contacts occasionally, but he was more open to wearing his glasses more. Enjolras loves the fact that Grantaire loves his glasses as well. Grantaire loves them that much, that he was named Enjolras's glasses, the ‘sexy specs.’ Grantaire tends to draw more pictures of Enjolras with his glasses on to ‘show more wisdom.’ Enjolras thinks that Grantaire is lying about his reason for drawing him with that excuse, but Enjolras is flattered at the same time.

Before Enjolras considered them to be his biggest shame, as he didn't want to risk looking imperfect to Grantaire. But he does wear his glasses with pride as Grantaire still loves him, even though he has a crack in his marble and that is one of the best things to him in the world.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, and I have a Tumblr at: http://hogwartsjaguar97.tumblr.com/.


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